The Elzy Fam is Back

It’s true that you can have to much of a good thing. You can’t have double fudge chocolate cake everyday or a venti’ triple shot mocha with whip cream from Starbucks either, which is precisely why I needed to take a break from the blog. I decided that I was giving my 31 fans (at the time) way to much of the good stuff, so for their own good I had to give the blog a 5 month break. Of course this is all a lie. In reality, because of my prioritizing post-baby ; the blog suddenly got pushed way down the list. I just didn’t have much time for it. Apparently having a new born baby takes up a lot of time.

Now that we’ve sort of settled into our role as parents I’ve finally found some time to blog. The past 5 months have been crazy and nothing really prepares you for them. Since Angel got pregnant people have always wanted to give me advice. Some people say “get your sleep now haha” (because me being sleep deprived is funny). Another favorite “you better learn to say no now because once she’s born that’s the last time you’ll ever say it”. (Great so I’m going to lose my spine also). Another good one “Your life will never be the same, never the same, I mean in a good way though, a good a way…yeah” (like they really haven’t made up their mind for themselves if they like being parents, then at the last moment they realize the need to add positive spin, to make me feel good). Finally my favorite “this is crazy, you don’t sleep, you don’t eat, the first 3 months she doesn’t like you because you don’t have the goods and I haven’t seen my wife in 3 months.” Okay that last quote was actually me one cold February night trying to rock the baby in the living room at 2am. It was a weak moment. There are a couple of things I’ve learned that no one told me about prior to baby.

You’re not the mama- At first I thought I was going to try and help, I thought I was a sidekick to this whole baby biz, but when you have a nursing mother, the dad has no use. Looking at this from the baby’s point of view it makes sense. “This strange guy is all in my face, he doesn’t have milk, doesn’t put my diaper on right, he has a huge head, there is no way I’m letting this fool hold me for longer than a second”. And that’s what usually happened she was cool with me for 10 minutes but after that she had enough of me. This leads me to my next point.

You don’t want to be the mama. To be honest, when it was time for me to go back to work, I was like “this is great I need a break” because it’s probably quieter there then at my house. I probably shouldn’t have written that because I will get slapped as soon as this is posted, but it’s true. Men aren’t made for this. It made me respect my mom, all mothers, and my wife even more. You talk about a 24 hour job. That’s literally true for the first few months of motherhood. They don’t get to sleep, barely get to eat, or even shower. I would come home and Angel would be in the same position every day. Glazed look, on the couch nursing the baby, didn’t look like a great time and despite that she would do it all over again for Brooklyn. If that would have been me in her place, I would have gotten my tubes tied by now.

You freak out over everything. You worry about her crying, her grabbing her ear to much, that she is wearing the same color for too many days in a row.

Babies will change quickly. It’s pretty amazing how fast they grow. I would come home and it seems like she’s changed from one day to the next. One day she’ll just be sitting there and doing the ESP routine (eat, sleep, poop) and the next day she will be sitting up and grabbing stuff, pulling on my ear almost out of nowhere.

Overall, I can say this stage of parenthood is pretty good. She can’t crawl, walk, or roll, but she’s laughing, playing and showing all kinds of emotion. Her favorite toys include towels and water bottles. Right now I can put her in the bouncy and do whatever I want. When she starts crawling it’s over. I will actually have to watch her. The next thing I know some 14 year old kid with a baby beard will be knocking on my door (that will probably be the last door he ever knocks on). Below are some pictures that hopefully haven’t been on facebook and a video. Enjoy.

This is a video of Brooklyn hanging out with one of her friends. He tried to grab her hand. Daddy wasn't having that

Brooklyn has a little accident with the rattle here

The first baby to skip the bottle and go straight to the cup

Watching the Pacers game with Daddy

Brooklyn & Mommy

After week one, it’s still hard to believe that this baby is real and it’s even harder to believe that this baby is mine. This little girl doesn’t look anything like me. Instead of trying to figure out if she looks like me or Angel, I’m trying to figure out if she looks like the milkman, the mailman or the pool man. If I didn’t see the baby born first-hand you would probably be watching me and Angel on Dr. Phil right now.



Obviously, I’m joking I was there firsthand at all the crucial points of the process, but I was hoping she would at least look at little bit like me. Well it turns out she does. Apparently, I was once as small as Brooklyn (okay not as small 8lbs 15oz. and 23inches) but relatively. And when I was born I was white to, apparently so white, that my dad would have made my mom take a DNA test if I didn’t come out with a flat top just like his. I’ve looked at the pictures and it’s true, I was a white baby just like Brooklyn.


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Yeah this is me

Like most babies, if you look closely it’s hard to tell who she exactly looks like.  I know she has Angel’s eyes and dimple, and she’s hairy and has my nose.   Other than that everything else is up for debate.  So there is a new poll up (for everyone to vote on the fact that Brooklyn looks like Angel) on the right and obviously some cute baby pictures.  



The Challenge

Edmound Dantes Elzy 

Brooklyn Jaydah Elzy






Angelica Marie Elzy



Wakinig up from a nap



Look at that hair



Throwing up gang signs



Asleep

Still Asleep

Wants me to get the camera out of her face

The after meal nap

Before it all went down

So the pregnancy journey has finally come to an end. Brooklyn Jaydah Elzy made her debut at 5:36 am Tuesday December 14th, 2010 after a long labor. We went in at 7pm Sunday night for Angel to be induced. In my novice opinion and unknowledgeable guess, I figured we would be done by Monday afternoon at the latest. I will spare everyone the exact details of the labor because it wasn’t a great time and actually traumatic (I don’t know if I can unsee some of the things I saw) but I did write a quick Haiku (a Japanese poem) about it.

34 hours labor
Crap I know this is my fault
Glad baby looks like her

I will tell one story. Angel didn’t want an epidural, and told me and her mother beforehand that even if she begs and cries try not to let her get it. When she told me this I knew an internal battle would happen. Like what if she’s really in pain and she tells me she’s going to divorce me. I did know that a quick labor would help the chance of her not needed the epidural, but getting induced makes the contractions worse. So of course the labor is 34 hours long. 18 hours into it she started asking relief. She cried three times, yelled at me four times, told me and her mom to get the nurse twelve times. It was getting pretty awkward in the delivery room me when she’s crying and me and are Mom are staring at each other not knowing what to do, but we were trying to honor her wishes. The issue is Angel was a slow dilator, at 8am she was a 3, at 1pm she was a 4. The doctor came in around this time and said that it’s usually one centimeter per hour. So I figure “okay then at 7pm she would be a ten” (the ultimate goal). So I was using that time as an end point. I tried to not let her have the epidural figuring by the time they checked her at 7pm she would be like 9 or hopefully a 10.

When the time came to check her, she was a 5. She immediately asked for the epidural and I didn’t blame her. 24 hours of labor and we were barely at a 5. If you told me it would take 2 more weeks to deliver this baby I would of believed you. Luckily, the epidural made the process better for everyone involved. Angel wishes she would have gotten it sooner.

At 5:36am the baby was finally born, it was definitely amazing and its one of those things you have to be there for. It’s weird because before Brooklyn was born you talk about her, buy clothes for her, and paint a room for her and all kinds of stuff, but it almost like you’re talking about Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy because you can’t even imagine her here. Then at that moment when she’s about born it’s almost like she appears out of thin air. Oh and she wasn’t happy. Actually you can see for yourself.

I think she got that from her mom. They weighted her (7lbs 2.3 ounces) measures her (19 1/2 inches) and then gave her to me. She was done crying and wide awake and alert, she was just staring at me probably wondering who the heck I am. I’m looking back and I can’t believe that this baby is actually real, and that she’s half of me and half of Angel.
In the end everyone is doing well, Mom and Baby. Today we finally left the hospital. Thanks for everyone’s prayers and thoughts.

What’s up world, its crunch time in the pregnancy journey. If Angel’s water doesn’t break tonight, or tomorrow morning, we are scheduled to go to the hospital by 7pm tomorrow night. Therefore, at the very latest Brooklyn Elzy will make her debut sometime Monday December 13th. Unfortunately no one in our contest picked the 13th, but three people did pick the 12th Adrian, Dayna, & Leah. So if somehow her water breaks and the baby is born tomorrow you guys all win!!!. If I were you guys, tonight I would pray hard that her water starts flowing like the Niagara Falls . Free Pacer tickets and dinner are on the line (travel not included). Expect a written diary and video documentary of the labor, also I will host a live chat and give play by play on streaming audio.


Last thing, I don’t think I’ve ever change a diaper before. So this video below is my first practice, let me know how I did. Everyone take care and thanks for your prayers.

Homestretch

 I didn’t really forget about our blog.  I was just busy.  You see Angel’s pregnant which means I don’t have time to type, because I’m too busy rubbing feet, hips, and thighs (good excuse right).  Anyway, we are in the homestretch.  The baby is going to be born between now and December 17.  That’s a direct quote from our doctor. We’re all ready for the baby to come. I know this means less sleep, no life, and insanity for the next couple of months, but it’s time for the Harvard Grad to be born and begin studying.  Below are some different pictures of Angel during her journey.



This picture was in early summer we thought Angel was really starting to show when we took this.



This picture was later in the summer.  Brooklyn looks like she's taking after her daddy already

This picture was in the fall the baby just kept growing

This picture was last Monday look at that belly.

Getting Registered

Last weekend we visited Target and Baby’s R Us to register for our upcoming baby showers. Right now, we have three parties on the schedule. One from my mother, Angel is getting one from her co- workers and we are having a welcome the baby party whenever we go back to Cali.


I really wanted to be involved in the registry process with it being our first child and all. I never cared what a registry was until we did one for our wedding. The basic concept is a great idea if it was possible I wish I could have a running registry for my life. It would probably look like this.

- New Lexus

- Trip and vacation home in Hawaii

- A winning season from the Indiana Pacers

- any kind of Candy

So feel free to get me anyone of those if you so choose. The problem I have with registries is that they are not for men. They are for women, and women affiliated events such as, bridal showers, baby showers and weddings. You never see a group of guys getting a registry for a birthday party or something. When me and Angel registered for our wedding I realized that 95% of the products we scanned were things that I didn’t care about such as rugs, European soaps, and small kitchen appliances, Angel was having a much better time than I was.

I really was excited to be involved in our daughter’s registry, because I’m the proud father of a future noble prize winner. There is one problem I have an internal shopping clock that usually goes off at the 25 minute mark after we’ve entered a store. When that clock goes off I’m done. I’m definitely leaving the store and regardless of the circumstances. This clock does have exceptions; when I’m in any store that has the word foot in it i.e. Foot Locker, Footaction, or Best Buy, only then does the clock strangely go away.

First, we went to Target. Usually I hate Target and refuse to go because we go there for hangers or detergent or something and suddenly Angel is in the jewelry section or the dollar cart looking at some trinket. Behavior like that makes my internal clock go from 25 minutes to 25 seconds. So the Target rule has been developed, meaning whatever is in the basket after 10 minutes is getting purchased because I’m heading checkout line (Angel understands this which is why she goes to the jewelry section first). But registering at Target was great. The section was really small and it took 20 minutes to scan.

Massive Baby's r Us store

Secondly, we went to Babies R Us which I knew from the 15 minute introduction speech I was going to be in there for at least 2 hours. This is probably the first time I’ve actually been there for more than 5 seconds because of the special circumstance.

Our friendly senior employee who gave us our intro included tidbits like babies go thru 4000 diapers a year. (That’s a lot considering I’ve never changed a diaper in my life), scan as much as you possibly can, target the most expensive stuff, also sign up for a credit card, savings card and make sure to give us your bank account number on the way out. The positive was that I got a scanner. Scanning stuff is something I’ve always enjoyed even back in the days when working retail was my job. Scanning merchandise was my favorite thing, and I was probably the quickest and most accurate at it. (Too bad this means nothing on a resume’)

Getting her scan on

I'm all scanned out

Babies R Us is a massive store which made it seem never-ending. If you ever wondered how many different types of pacifiers and diapers there are, go inside. Also, if you like screaming babies, you can come here. I was determined to keep the trip organized. I said that we had to start one side of the store and work isle by isle and to the right. I figured being organized would make for efficiency and more importantly quickness. Plus, I didn’t think Angel would find something to scan in every isle. Unfortunately, she found a lot of stuff to scan and when I hit my 30-minute time limit and we were only 30% through the store, and haven’t hit important stuff like diapers, strollers, bottles and other stuff. The rest of trip consistent of me snapping saying stuff “what’s the point of buying diapers if we are just going to throw them away” and “do babies really need shoes, they don’t walk” After an hour and 35 minutes, 350 scans and 143 separate items we were done. I controlled the gun while Angel picked out stuff. After all that I was pretty much done mentally. So hopefully we get a lot of stuff, because I’m not going into another Baby store for at least 5 years.

It’s time to light up the blogosphere with another entry of the Elzy Fam Blog. September 21^st marks the first day of autumn. which means this is the season (with a due date of December 10^th) the future princess will be born in. That signals the home stretch for the pregnancy, and this blog will soon have more baby pictures and less pictures of us. There were two events of note since my last entry.

I’m fresh off of a 326^th place finish in a bike race of 337 people. Yes , 97% of all competitors beat me, and a lot of them were female. I was actually the 3^rd to last guy. In order to properly asses this I’m going to have a quick interview, the interviewer myself and the interviewee me again.

Was I prepared?

That’s a large, fat no. I showed up with basketball shorts, basketball shoes, a undersized helmet and a t-shirt on. I rode a mountain bike which the rear brakes barely worked and the handlebars gradually loosened as I rode. More prepared competitors had road bikes, bike shorts, some with full spandex suits and cone helmets.

I didn’t stretch at all; I just jumped on the bike and rode. More seasoned competitors brought stationary bikes to warm up with and one guy even spent 10 minutes messaging his butt checks to get loose.

Do I know how to ride a bike?

I do but I’m not confirming or denying the rumor that someone had to push me along to get started (because my gears were stuck) like I just got my training wheels off my bike.

Was I embarrassed?

Currently, I’m playing two angles for my horrible effort, first that I was riding a mountain bike and second that I didn’t care as much as those bicycle tight having, conehead helmet wearing idiots. (Actually, I pretty embarrassed, I’m a college athlete, and I still work out consistently, I feel like I was more athletic the 99% of the people there and then I was easily passed on a hill by a girl that was maybe 100 pounds & 5 foot 1.

What do I conclude?

You don’t see too many brothas’ in the Tour De France for a reason

I’m also happy to announce that an intervention will not be needed. For anyone who knows Angel she lives and breathes (and drinks) Starbucks. While to be honest the last few months I was worried about her. Our conversations all were starting to revolve around Starbucks. I would ask her how was work and she would say “I only went to Starbucks once today” and then I would ask what does that have to do with work and she would just ask me to go with her to get a Chai Tea.

Some have people have a six sense, like the kid off movie “The Six Sense” who sees dead people. My mom’s sixth sense is the ability to find the lowest possible price on any product without using the internet. My sixth sense is ability to pass gas in a room full of people and slip out unaccused and Angel’s is to find any Starbucks located within a half a mile. The problem with her sixth sense is that it cost a $4 chai every time see uses it. It got so bad I was try to guilt her and say every time you spend money on Starbucks that’s four more dollars we have to come up with for our child’s Harvard education.

I was never sure how to deal with it. I decided I was going to have an intervention. I was thinking about taking her on the Dr. Phil show or finding some type of Starbucks Anonymous for her. Then last week we were sitting in the living room I was on the couch watching TV, she was at the dining table (which is behind the couch) on her computer, and Kobe was laying on the floor licking his rear end when she surprise everyone and said “ I think about Starbucks way too much. I guess this isn’t normal. I need to slow down for a while.” Startled, I hit pause on the remote to the television (love DVR saves our marriage one day at a time) and turned to look at her. Without looking up, she just kept about her business, so I turn back around and went about mine. So congrats to Angel on her admission

Lastly, we do have some picture of my lovely wife below, from when she was kind of pregnant to being really pregnant.

3D Ultra Sound of Baby



4 1/2 Months



6 Months



4 Months

6 Months